Penn Cambria’s Niebauer to retire as wrestling coach this week
High school wrestling
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Todd Niebauer coached the Penn Cambria wrestling team through some of the program's best dual meet and postseason success. He also helped navigate the Panthers through heartbreaking tragedy.
Niebauer, who has amassed a 216-177 record in 24 years as Penn Cambria's head coach was inducted into the District 6 Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2022, has decided to retire as the Panthers' wrestling coach.
Niebauer's retirement will be formally accepted by the Penn Cambria School Board at its meeting on Tuesday.
The 54-year-old Niebauer will stay on for now as an English teacher, Penn Cambria track coach and Mount Aloysius College cross country. He also works for the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport, owns a landscaping business and is a spark driver for Walmart.
"This is year 32 with teaching, and I'm getting close to the end of my career as far as work goes," Neibauer said. "It just takes so much time and it's been a great run. The biggest thing is I've never gone away with my family over Christmas or have done much with my family.
"I just think it's time. I can turn it over to a new regime and give them a shot to build something of their own. It's always been a huge passion of mine. The biggest thing is to spend time with my wife (Tonya) and my boys (Reed and Bryce) are starting to get spread out a little bit, so I can travel and see them."
Niebauer became the head coach at Penn Cambria in 2002, succeeding 2002 Altoona Mirror Coach of the Year Doug Fogel. He was asked if he thought he'd ever coach for 24 years.
"That's a great question," Niebauer said with a laugh. "At times I would have never thought I would. At other times I thought they would have to peel me off the mat when I died. Long-term coaches are not in high in numbers as they used to be.
"I thank my wife and boys for allowing me to coach so long and for supporting me. I know they sacrificed a lot."
A 1990 graduate of Central Cambria who was a District 6 and Northwest Regional Tournament runner-up as a senior, Niebauer went on to wrestle for legendary coach Pat Pecora at UPJ.
When his wrestling career was cut short by a back injury, he became a volunteer coach for 1998 Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Tom Vaux at Central Cambria. He then moved on as a volunteer coach for Fogel at Penn Cambria, where he eventually landed a teaching position.
For four years, from the 2014-15 season to the 2017-18 season, the Panthers went 43-17 in dual meets. His teams, though, were often tournament-heavy, with many of his wrestlers amassing more than 50 bouts in a season.
Niebauer coached the Link brothers, Nathan, Ryan, Evan and Nolan, who became one of the most successful sibling legacies in state wrestling history, earning more than 450 wins.
Evan was a two-time state runner-up in 2009 and 2011 and Mirror Wrestler of the Year in 2011, while Nathan was a silver medalist in 2007 and the Mirror Wrestler of the Year as a senior.
Patrick Myers amassed 140 wins from 2006-2007 to 2009-2010 and was a three-time state qualifier. His brother, Paul Myers, had 92 wins in three years and was a two-time state qualifier in Niebauer's early years as head coach.
"I just had dinner with the Link brothers and Paul Myers the other night," Niebauer said. "It made me reflect on that special bond you have with those kids. Those guys were something else. I still talk to a lot of kids, whether they're coaching or still around the sport.
"Those groups 10 years ago and the early 2000s were just special. They bled and breathed the sport. Those kids came from great families. That's what I'll remember at Penn Cambria, the great families and the great kids. I had great administrators too."
Paul Myers, who is a wrestling referee and is a director for multiple tournaments, including the Panther Holiday Classic and District 6 tournaments, was asked what Niebauer has meant to the program.
"What Todd has meant to the program might be the hardest answer for me to give because for over two decades Todd has been the program," Paul Myers said. "I've had the opportunity to have been a wrestler under Todd, a coach under Todd and to now having a friendship and a bond that goes beyond what I could've ever imagined.
"Todd has been the literal head of that program. From coaching to more importantly mentoring, which he will always say is way more important, to the tournament, to being active in the boosters and so on, I could never imagine Penn Cambria wrestling without Todd Niebauer.
"He means the world to me and my family, more than just coach Niebauer. He has been more of a father figure to me than a coach."
When he was asked what he thought the highlight of his career was, Niebauer said, "I can honestly say it's the lifelong relationships I made with these kids. Paul Myers is how many years younger, and he and I talk every single day multiple times.
"There are the Link boys, Patrick Myers, Zak Newton, Trent Hoover, who recently came through, and Isaac Filak, who just graduated this year. There are all the Farabaughs who have come through, John Julian, Derek Brown, Brock Talko and Chase Proudfit.
"You've had some many laughs, but there have been a lot of tears too, whether it being in the sport or their personal lives. We've gone through a lot with a few deaths throughout the years, whether it be family members or kids who wrestled for me."
The tears were flowing before the 2010-11 season even started when Joey Stoy, who had placed sixth at the regional tournament the year before, died in a car accident on Oct. 12 of 2010. His twin brother Jon, who was a passenger in the car, sustained only a wrist injury.
"I was close to the family," said Niebauer, who read a poem penned by an unknown author titled "A reason, a season, or a lifetime" at Joey's funeral. "You realize those kids are human. They have a lot going on outside of wrestling. When you spend so much time with them outside of wrestling you obviously get a bond.
"That was a tough one on the whole wrestling program and my cross country program because he was a vital member on both. He was from such a high character family, and you don't wish that (death) on anybody."
On the mat, his teams from 2014-15 to 2017-18 went 12-5, 10-4, 9-3 and 12-5. As recently as the COVID 19-shortened season of 2020-21 through 2022-23, the Panthers went 30-11.
While he's done as a head coach, Niebauer probably isn't done with helping out with the sport. Todd's brother Matt, who was an assistant for him for many years before becoming the Central Cambria coach, asked him to help out with the Red Devils, but he said no.
"For me to go up and help Matt right now, that's probably not in the cards," Todd said. "If I'm stepping away, I'm not stepping away from Penn Cambria to go to an opposing school -- no matter if my brother is there or not.
"I've been blue and black for most of my career. I'd like to retire being that because I have so much praise for Penn Cambria and what it's made me."